S. Korean President, Meta CEO Zuckerberg discuss cooperation on AI

Seoul, Feb 29: South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol and Meta Platforms CEO, Mark Zuckerberg met in Seoul on Thursday and discussed ways to expand cooperation in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Extended Reality (XR) sectors, a presidential official said.

Zuckerberg was in Seoul on a three-day visit, during which he met with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan and other businesspeople to discuss collaborations in the cutting-edge industries, Yonhap news agency reported.

During their meeting at the presidential office, Yoon and Zuckerberg discussed their visions for an open AI digital ecosystem and ways to strengthen cooperation between Meta and South Korean companies, as well as the need for Meta, as a global platform, to play an active role in building a trustworthy digital society, Sung Tae-yoon, Director of national policy at the presidential office, said during a Press briefing.

Yoon especially noted that South Korean companies rank first and second in the world in memory chips, an essential part of AI systems, and called for close cooperation, saying the government is ready to provide active support, given the close supply chain cooperation mechanisms established between the South Korean and US governments.

"The President stressed that the Republic of Korea, with its diverse portfolio of smart electronics, wearable devices and smart cars, can become an outstanding platform to apply Meta's AI," Sung said, referring to South Korea by its formal name.

Yoon also explained South Korea's efforts to nurture the metaverse industry and the potential for big synergy if Meta pairs up with South Korean companies, which are strong in hardware, to develop XR headsets for the metaverse industry.

"The President said the South Korean industry is ready to actively support what Meta has imagined and designed," Sung said.

Zuckerberg acknowledged the high reliance on South Korean-made parts, especially in the context of geopolitical risks surrounding Taiwan, home to semiconductor manufacturing company TSMC, according to a presidential official.

He also noted the important place Samsung holds in the global economy as a leading foundry business and how that could serve as an important factor in collaborations with the company, the official added.

Meanwhile, Yoon asked Meta and other big tech platform companies to pay special attention to the threat posed by a growing volume of fake news and fabricated material exploiting AI in an election year in many countries around the world.

Zuckerberg explained Meta's efforts to prevent election fraud, such as by placing watermarks or labels on videos to mark whether they are AI-generated, the official said.